You are here

Resources

Newsletter for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) explaining how they conducts annual aerial surveys in areas occupied by mature spruce forests as a priority, mostly because of their significance as a preferred host for the most serious insect pest in the NWT.

The Forest Management Division (FMD) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) is responsible for monitoring forest health conditions across the NWT to ensure the forest has the capacity for renewal after a wide range of disturbances, and is able to retain its ecological resiliency while meeting the current and future needs of NWT residents.

Fire is a natural and important part of the boreal forest ecosystem. Northern plants and animals have adapted to the cycles of fire and regrowth, and barren-ground caribou have co-existed with the effects of forest fires on their winter range for thousands of years.

The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) is developing a new Forest Act to amend and combine the existing Forest Management Act and the Forest Protection Act.

Forest health facts and highlights for the Northwest Territories for 2017, along with a conversation with Roger Brett, the Forest Health Supervising Technician of the Natural Resources Canada – Canadian Forest Service, Northern Forestry Centre, about changes to NWT forests over the last 25 years.

Annual report by the Forest Management Division of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on forest health conditions across the NWT. The forest health program monitors whether or not the forest has the capacity for renewal after a wide range of disturbances, for the retention of its ecological resiliency while meeting current and future needs of NWT residents. The focus of the forest health program has been on monitoring insect and disease impacts in the NWT forests. However, since 2015, FMD has also been recording abiotic disturbances to address the uncertainty of forest ecosystem response to a changing climate. Examples of abiotic disturbances recorded during monitoring surveys include: drought symptoms (reddening of foliage, sun scalding scars, stunted and gnarled foliage), flooding, wind and snow damage, land slumps, and permafrost related disturbance (“drunken forest” phenomenon). General decline of some tree species is also tracked.